The Guardian – Amid criticism bookmaker vows to link executive pay to targets tackling issue and set up a board committee to investigate policy Ladbrokes will seek to calm the row over the lucrative fixed-odds gambling machines in high-street bookies this week with a vow to link executive pay to targets on tackling problem gambling.
The bookmaker also plans to set up a board committee to investigate responsible gambling policies as it responds to widespread criticism of machines dubbed the “crack cocaine of gambling” by campaigners.
Ladbrokes has written to the minister responsible for gambling, Helen Grant, and industry stakeholders before its financial results on Tuesday saying it will promote the Association of British Bookmakers’ code of player protection in shop windows from this week. The letter also promises a link between future pay for top bosses, including the company’s chief executive, Richard Glynn, and efforts to tackle problem gambling. It is not yet clear, however, how Ladbrokes will measure success in that area.
“On Tuesday, we will also announce that the Ladbrokes board has decided to formalise a number of responsible gambling performance measures into senior executives’ remuneration. A committee will be established, reporting to the main PLC board, to oversee this and put the measures into practice from 2015 at the latest,” Glynn says in the letter, obtained by Sky News.
The move seeks to pre-empt some of the inevitable questions from investors and analysts worried about the threat of an imminent government crackdown on high-speed, high-stakes gambling machines. David Cameron pledged last month that he would address the “problem” of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), indicating that the government would act after an industry-funded review reports in the next few months.
Political criticism of the machines – on which punters can bet up to £300 a minute – has been widespread, with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, warning they are “spreading like an epidemic”.
